My Blue Jeep

[Ron84cj]

I finally started a build thread! I probably should have a long time ago but in all honesty I was a bit embarrassed with how slow moving it was. Although I had it running and driving this past year, there is still a lot to do. What year is it? Now that's a very entertaining question. The title says 82 but in reality it's a range from 77 to 03. Starting 10 years ago I bought quite a few junk scramblers and cj7s and parted them out. I kept what I wanted and sold or traded the rest. So it was kind of a self funding project.

Here is a pic of how the blue one looked this past year before I tore it back apart. The red jeep we had since 1990, she's only got 28,000 original miles.

 

[Jeep Addict]

Double thumbs up on both of those

 

[MN-Paul]

I love them.

 

[gr8dain]

They look great!

 

[Ron84cj]

Thanks for the kind words.

So this spring I had the rebuilt 258 running with a weber 38. It ran awesome but I wanted more power so I decided on the mopar mpi. Holy crap does that wake up a 258. In my opinion it has way more guts than a 4.0L. I got the swap done about a week before sandblast. Nothing like the last minute

Sandblast was so much fun! When I first got there I was having a really wierd problem with the engine dying when I let off the gas. So I asked for help and before I knew it I was surrounded by scrambler people helping me figure it out! Thanks again guys. Turns out by brake booster blew and was the cause. I still don't completely understand why, maybe the vacuum leak caused the map sensor to freak out? I don't know All I know is we plugged it off and it ran great again.

 

[Ron84cj]

Then the problems start. On my way home from sandblast I I started hearing naughty sounds under the hood. It started a rod knock! I get it home, tore it apart and saw this.

It's hard to see, but my crank got scored and my cylinder walls were smooth. Not in a good way either, the cylinder walls wore off the cross hatching completely! I've had engines apart with over 400,000 miles on them and didn't look this worn. I took my parts to the machine shop and what they told me completely confuses me. They found a bunch of glass beads from a media blaster. The interesting part is that I didn't media blast anything and I clean Everything very thoroughly before assembly. I also changed the oil 3 times. The first time after the 20 minute break in, then at 200 mile, then right before I left for Michigan. The oil looked great each time. I don't get it. So as of right now this is how my jeep sits.

 

[Ron84cj]

I actually have an extra 258 I could use. It has about 76,000 miles on it. It would have to be gone through because it has been sitting a long time. I could go this route, it would actually make a lot of sense. But I need more power! So this gave me a good excuse to swap in a chevy 5.3L. I will have a good 100 more horsepower and still should get similar gas milage. My 04 suburban routinely gets in the neighborhood of 18 mpg. I see no reason my jeep shouldn't get at least that. I bought a 5 3L with 75,000 on it from a local yard. I got the complete motor with the accessories, harness, and starter for $500.

 

[Ron84cj]

Sorry for the sideways photos, not sure why that's happening.

 

[Kane]

LS swap is my dream. I decided to build the 258 instead but regret that decision. I may start buying the parts for this swap over the winter and hook it up to my AX15.

 

[cdvcj8]

Sorry for the sideways photos, not sure why that's happening.

I posted this on the other thread. If it is an iPhone you can only take photos with the button on the right. Vertical photos don't work. [emoji848][emoji45]

 

[Ron84cj]

I have an old galaxy s4. I didn't think of that, it must be the way the photos were taken. I'll play with that on the test thread.

 

[Randyzzz]

Looks great! Is that tall soft top custom built?

You'll love the 5.3 swap. I'm jealous at how cheap everyone is finding them for. They think all the low mileage ones are gold plated here in Oregon.

 

[Ron84cj]

The top is a NOS whitco top. I never even knew they existed until earlier this year. I was selling a half hard top on Craigslist and one of the calls I got the guy said he had a full length soft top and that he doesn't want to drill holes in his tub to install it. So we ended up doing a cash plus trade deal. I'm still getting used to how tall it is, still not sure I like the look but it is very handy though. I have an extra new from 1993 bestop I could put on. I just found it in storage this summer and never knew we had it.

 

[Ron84cj]

I have the same top on the red scrambler. Apparently my dad got two back then for some unknown reason.

 

[Ron84cj]

I'm finally finding time to work on this thing again. The holidays kept me busy and broke. Anyways, I have been doing a ton of research on bolting up a chevy LS engine to an AX15. There are a few options, if you go the quick lazy way advance adapters and novak will take you well over a $1000 to get you going. Novak requires you to use a stock bellhousing and their adapter plate $319.00(part# GMAX15) to mate to the ax15. Advance Adapters has a whole bellhousing $483.24(part# 712567V) that mates the 2 together. If you go the Novak route, you need a bellhousing that fits an 11 inch clutch/168 tooth flywheel. LS engines only came with a 168 tooth flywheel, so the more common 10 1/2" bellhousing will NOT work.

There are differences with the 4.8, 5.3, and 6.0 that should be noted. The 4.8 and 5.3 use the same block and 3.78" bore, the 4.8 just simply uses a shorter stroke crank. The 6.0L uses its own block for the 4 inch bore. Unless you plan on a rebuild, beware of early 99 blocks. Gm tried to use the same block for all 3 motors! So the cylinder walls were way too thick for the smaller bore 4.8 and 5.3 causing overheating problems. If you find an early 4.8/5.3 for cheap that needs a rebuild, chances are you could simply bore it to 4." to make a 6.0L. Any year 4.8/5.3 you can bore it out to 3.898 to make it a 5.7L. So basically an iron LS1. The 99s and 2000s used iron heads instead of aluminum. The crankshaft on the old GEN 1 engines (350s, etc.) stick out .400" further rearward than LS engines. The 99-2000 4.8 and 6.0L when coupled to a manual trans also stuck out .400" further than the 4.8/5.3/6.0 with automatics. Yes, you read that right. They ran different cranks for the autos and manuals in 99 and 2000. Here is a pic of a 99 flywheel (left) and a 2001 flywheel (right) side by side on the crank mounting surface on 2" blocks for comparison. The location of the starter ring shows the .4" difference.

 

[Ron84cj]

Now, both Novak and Advance adapters will want to sell you a custom flywheel to make up the .4" If you don't, your clutch fork won't work correctly. Also, you will not be able to use a stock LS clutch, it's too tall and won't allow enough room for the throw out bearing. You have to use a Gen 1 11" clutch. So you can either spend around $400 on their "custom" flywheel or simply use a stock LS flywheel and a adjustable pivot ball. McLeod sells the one you need (part #16908).

 

[Ron84cj]

The flywheel I bought from autozone is for a 2001 6.0 truck (Duralast part #FW2776). Even though the gen 1 clutch (Duralast part#NU5551) bolt holes line up on the flywheel, you can NOT just simply bolt it up. The gen 1 pressure plate requires 3/8-16 shoulder bolts for proper location. The LS stuff is all metric. It would horribly imbalanced if you used the metric bolts. No big deal, just have a machine shop drill and tap the holes for you. It's just a 12 5/8 6 point bolt circle. Nothing fancy so I can't imagine it costing too much. If your engine had an auto attached to it, obviously the flexplate bolts will be too short for a flywheel. You need ARP part#330-2802 for the flywheel and ARP part#130-2201 for the pressure plate.

 

[Ron84cj]

My pressure plate bolts came in last night so I was able to start on my flywheel. I had to wait so I could measure the shoulder diameter and the depth. First pop out the 2 dowels out of the flywheel. You will no longer need these. I then set up the turntable after work, indicated everything to 0.

What's great is I have the newest mill in the shop. It's from 1981! lol, most of our mills and lathes are 1940s vintage. They just keep on going. Anyways, I went on to center drilling all the holes. The chevy pattern is just a 12.625 6 bolt pattern. So once you have your 0, just move up 6.3125 and turn the turntable every 60 degrees.

drilled all the holes with a 5/16 drill

This is the part that I needed the bolts for. I needed to measure the shoulder diameter for proper fitment. Your pressure plate relies on these for alignment. They were all consistent at .3728. So I reamed all the holes to .373 and .265 deep so the shoulder doesn't bottom out while still retaining as many threads as possible. Then proceeded to tap for the 3/8-16 thread.

 

[Ron84cj]

And the finished product... Everything fits excellent.

I forgot to mention, make sure you drill all the holes all the way thru so you don't upset the balance.

 

[Ron84cj]

I know most don't have access to this equipment, but overall none of this took that long so a machine shop shouldn't charge that much. Start to finish I only have about an 1 1/2 and I was definitely being a poke. There is no reason you should have to pay for more than 1 hour of labor at the shop.